Am I Crazy? - Travel Planning

[Tonichelle]

Well it's no secret or surprise that I'm going to Walt Disney World with my best friend in January. If there's an obsession larger than Figure Skating when it comes to me, it's Disney Parks. I can't get enough of them!

Anyway we will be booking airfare by May, the room on Disney property in June, and I can begin to reserve tables at the resteraunts on July 18th. Getting a vacation package can't happen until at least August - probably closer to october.

So what am I doing? I am busy planning our days as best I can before the info comes out on the park times/special events.

Am I crazy to be doing this so far in advance? My friends on the Disney Passporter board don't think so, but they're all like me so I can't be sure they're in their right minds either lol


anyone else an obsessive planner like me?

 

[Ptichka]

anyone else an obsessive planner like me?

I do love to plan my travels, but there hasn't been one trip yet, whether if husband, friends, or parents, where we'd end up sticking to the plan. Sometimes we just end up in a different country even!

 

[Tonichelle]

yeah, I know, things happen plans change... but I plan contingency plans too

I really think I've gone to the darkside lol

 

[skamper23]

We went to Disney in Jan of 07' w/15 people....no-one wanted to so the same thing at the same time....we would split up..then meet at a certain time & place...I found planning ahead difficult. We did plan a character Breakfast in Animal Kingdom, and oh when we in Jan of 04' (with different relatives) w/ did the breakfast in the Castle w/ Disney Princesses...I highly recommend this....and you have to call way ahead to do this ...it books up fast!

 

[NJSk8Fan]

In a word NO!
I used to do the same thing!
I had all the travel books about WDW, with the best times to see which shows, ride which rides, the best days of the week to visit the parks, etc.
Then I made our personal list of "must see's", "hope to" and "if there's extra time".
I made up index cards for each days' activities in the parks which listed, in order, what attractions to hit. We checked the things off as we saw them. Of course, I had studied the maps of the parks, too, so I'd know where I was going.
We ended up making GREAT use of our time, we got done even faster than the time I allowed. Which meant we had more time for seeing little side of the road stuff outside the park, shopping, swimming or hitting the jacuzzi at our hotel, or taking a nap. The first day we toured the Magic Kingdom was supposed to take up to around 3pm to accomplish and we were done around 1pm!
We've never stayed in WDW, though. We always stayed out on 192.
In the evenings, we'd either walk or drive to a shopping area (like Old Town) or we'd play Yahtzee or 500 Rummy in our room. We never ate in any of the "specialty" restaurants in the parks, either...just the buffet/fast food type places. I would have liked to eat in the Living Seas watching all the fish/shark, etc., swim around us!

 

[Tonichelle]

Oh I've got many table service resteraunts I want to eat at - and so far we have two character meals planned (a breakfast at Donald's Safari and a Breakfast with the Hundred Acre Woods characters @ the Crystal Palace)

I love staying on property, you get so many perks that it's well worth the price IMO

 

[heyang]

As long as your best friend wants to do everything you do, then no problem. Otherwise, make sure that you give her time to do what she wants to do - even if it's just sleeping in or hanging out by the pool while you visit your Disney friends.

When my friends and I go on a trip, we don't have problems with doing our own thing either. We plan what we want to do together and make time for each of us to do our own thing and then meet up for dinner later. When we were in Paris, my best friend wanted to sit in the park and read and people watch. I wanted to go to Sacre Coeur and climb the steps. So, we each did our own thing and then shared our day over dinner.

 

[iluvtodd]

As long as your best friend wants to do everything you do, then no problem. Otherwise, make sure that you give her time to do what she wants to do - even if it's just sleeping in or hanging out by the pool while you visit your Disney friends.

Thoughtful advice! :agree:

Toni and Patch, we did the character breakfast with Donald & co. (Mickey, Goofy, & Pluto) at Animal Kingdom. What fun!!!!

 

[Tonichelle]

We ate at Donald's Breakfastasaurus last June

it's since switched over to the Tusker House and has become Donald's Safari Breakfast... characters are pretty much the same but instead of Pluto being one of the characters, they now have DAISY! which is awesome. Erin and I will be eating there our second day! (so long as we can get a reservation!

heyang - I don't plan to go at a break neck pace... I'm planning the meals as of now, and then we'll just base our day around that... Erin's game for just about anything and as long as we hit it all she's good... we have a down day where we won't enter the parks (or if we do it will only be for the evening shows) and that's just for her. She wants to go mini golfing, so that's what we'll do.

Neither one of us is really into the pool, and of the two I'm actually the one who likes lazy down time... so it should be a good trip!

Edited to add teh following:

Erin and I were looking at menus at midnight her time last night... and we think we've got our plans..... what do you think?

January 12, 2009 - Arrival Day & Magic Kingdom 1
Breakfast - Pop Century Food Court
Lunch - Columbia Harbour House
Dinner - Play it by Ear, probably Pop Food Court

January 13, 2009 - Animal Kingdom 1
Breakfast - Donald's Safari Breakfast @ Tusker House
Lunch - Flame Tree BBQ
Dinner - Pop Century Food Court

January 14, 2009 - EPCOT 1
Breakfast - Pop Century
Lunch - Le Cellier if n/a eat around The World
Dinner - Cantina De San Angel

January 15, 2009 - Disney Hollywood Studios
Breakfast - Pop Century Food Court
Lunch - The Hollywood Brown Derby
Dinner - We'll grab a snack on our way to Fantasmic!

January 16, 2009 - Animal Kingdom 2
Breakfast - Kusafiri Coffee Shop
Lunch - Yak & Yeti Counter Service
Dinner - Pizza Planet

January 17, 2009 - Magic Kingdom 2
Breakfast - Main Street Bakery
Lunch - Cosmic Ray's
Dinner - The Plaza

January 18, 2009 - EPCOT 2
Breakfast - Pop Century Food Court
Lunch - Beaches & Cream
Dinner - Trail's End

January 19, 2009 - Martin Luther King Day = Take a Break!
Breakfast - Whispering Canyon Cafe
Lunch - Somewhere at Downtown Disney
Dinner - Pop Century Food Court?

January 20, 2009 - EPCOT 3
Breakfast - Sunshine Seasons
Lunch - Biergarten
Dinner - Yakitori House

January 21, 2009 - Magic Kingdom 3 & Toni's 24th Bday
Breakfast - Sleepy Hollow
Lunch - Crystal Palace Character Buffet
Dinner - Pecos Bill

 

[skamper23]

Looks like we all went to the same breakfast place...Which Disney resort are you staying at? So far we've tried Pop Century, Port Orleans Riverside, and Fort Wilderness Campground...my kids loved the Trails End Buffet there!!

 

[Tonichelle]

We're staying at Pop this trip

I've stayed at Pop previously and wasn't that impressed, but it's cheaper... I stayed at Coronado Springs in June and fell in love with it!

 

[babyoscar]

planning

the Emeril restaurant next to Universal in Orlando requires reservation 6 months ahead. We went there and asked if we could get any reservation that week, the lady laughed and told us, NO. This was few years back though, but still. I wouldn't be surprised if it is still the same.

so nope, you aren't crazy. there are lots of people who does this way ahead.

 

[ToePick]

I'm a planner too, so I don't think planning is crazy. As babyoscar said, because so many of the Disney restaurants require reservations well in advance, it actually makes sense to be figuring it out now. I think making sure you have your ducks in a row is a smart thing.

My only other advice is to make sure there's enough flexibility in it that you don't lose out on great experiences that might fall in your lap.

I'd also like to add that, even though I haven't been to DisneyWorld since I was 8 and had a very limited diet that consisted mostly of hot dogs and macaroni and cheese (yeah, I was that kid -- but I am glad to say that I've outgrown all of that nonsense), I was impressed by the variety of foods available on the menus you linked to, Toni. I know I have been impressed by improvements at Disneyland (CA is a loooot closer to me than FL, so I make it there every couple of years), so there's no reason to expect DisneyWorld to be behind that curve. Still, I was impressed.

Sounds like you are well on your way to a great trip, Toni.

 

[NJSk8Fan]

I've always wanted to stay in the Polynesian Resort in a room by the water so we could just walk onto the little beach area and see the electric light water parade thing from our room/patio/deck and so we could easily see the Polynesian Luau. On my Senior class trip in 1975 when it was only The Magic Kingdom, we went to the luau and I loved it!

However, when we have gone to the Kissimmee area in the past, we have alway stayed outside "the world". We like to get a room that is an efficiency unit and we do a lot of our eating in our room. DH always took one night to cook a steak dinner for us. With an effficiency, you can always do microwave popcorn and heat up any leftovers (or keep them cold) that you bring back from restaurants. And we could order a large pizza without worrying about what to do with the leftover pieces. The efficiencies had dishwashers so I didn't even have to wash dishes!

The hotels have surely changed names since we've been there ('86, '89, '96 twice and '97), but our first 2 years we stayed in what was called Wilson World. No efficiency, not even a coffee maker, microwave and mini fridge. But we loved their breakfast and dinner buffet meals. And the rooms had rocking chairs. If you know my husband you know why that is important (nervous habit of his...he NEEDS to rock) One year we stayed a good 20 minutes down 192 from the entrance to WDW at Stadium Inn. We had connecting rooms--one half was the efficiency unit with living area, eating area and kitchenette, the connected room was just a plain hotel room with 2 beds. Was NICE having two bathrooms! We had that place practicly to ourselves, the pool and jacuzzi were empty except for one day there was a young girl out there swimming with us. Another time we stayed in Tropical Palm Resorts where you can either drive your camper in or stay in one of their little "cottage" mobile homes. We stayed in a 2 bedroom plus loft cottage with full kitchen utilities. That was pretty neat, nice little deck on the cottage, too. And the last time we went, we stayed in Days Inn & Suites in a roomy efficiency unit. That was the year we went to see the Christmas displays AND the castle in The Magic Kingdom was still decorated for the 25th anniversary celebration. However, it poured almost our whole stay!

 

[heyang]

I was down in Orlando last October with my brother and his family. We stayed at their timeshare at Westgate. It was pretty convenient to Sea World, Universal and Disney.

Timeshares are another good option - you can even rent someone else's. You get the bedrooms, kitchen, living room, onsite amenities, washer/dryer.

We only went to Disney for trick or treat. Both kids have been to Disney a couple of years in a row. My brother figured they would have to go back to Disney more when the baby is a bit older. So, we spent time at Universal and Sea World because the older kids needed a change.

 

[Tonichelle]

Disney has it's own timeshare type deal... and it's not just for their resorts/parks but it's all over the world - The Disney Vacation Club... if I had the $$ I'd be signed up in a heartbeat!